Effect of inorganicchromium supplementationon glucose tolerance, insulinresponse, and serum lipidsin noninsulin-dependentdiabetics1

A placebo-controlled double-blindcross-overstudywas carried out to assess the effect of chromium supplementation (200 �tg trivalent chromium daily for 6 wk) on glucose tolerance, insulin response, long-term diabetic control, and serum lipids in 10 noninsulin- dependent diabetics aged 37 to68 yr.After chromium supplementation 24-h urinary chromium excretion showed a 9-fold increase indicating a positive chromium balance in the subjects. There was no significant difference between chromium supplementation and placebo periods in glucose tolerance and in fasting or 2-h postglucose serum insulin levels but the 1-h postglucose serum insulin level was slightly lower on chromium supplementation than on the placebo (55 ± 9.0 versus64 ± 11;p < 0.01, paired t test). Serum total cholesterol and triglycerides and their high- density, low-density, and very low-density lipoprotein subfractions showed no change after chromium supplementationascompared totheplaceboperiod. Am i Clin Nutr 1983:38:404- 410.